Danyon's Destiny
by Kate Davis
Summary: Danyon Solo is a great granchild of Leia & Han Solo. Danyon has tried to train as a Jedi for many years, but does not have the Force gift which causes problems between Danyon his family, and within himself. But when an enemy attacks the Jedi Academy...
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: Danyon's Destiny  
AUTHOR: Kate Davis  
EMAIL: Drama, with a hint of romance  
RATING: G  
ARCHIVE: Please email me for permission before archiving.  
DISCLAIMER: All recognised characters are the property of George Lucas and company. This piece of fan fiction was created purely for entertainment purposes and no one made any money from it. No infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended.  
SUMMARY: This is the first chapter of a story about Danyon Solo, grandson of Jacen Solo, great grandchild of Leia and Han Solo. Danyon has tried to train as a Jedi for many years, but does not have the Force gift. This causes many problems between Danyon and his family, and within himself. But when an enemy attacks the Jedi Academy he is forced to face his flaws to save his family and his honour...

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Danyon placed the small round object on the table in front of him. For the millionth time he relaxed, drew in breath and focused his entire being on it, searching desperately within himself for the power to make it move, even a little. He gripped the edge of the chair, his muscles tightened and after a few agonising moments he allowed himself to slump back and close his eyes, utterly defeated.

"Danyon?" His father's voice startled him, which angered him further because by all accounts he should have sensed him approaching much earlier.

He shifted uneasily in his chair and sat up.

"The transport's all set to go. Grandfather's waiting for you", said Rukar.

"I'm not going back", Danyon whispered.

"What? Why not?"

"I don't have it, father. It's just not in me. I'm tired of training to be something I'm not."

"Since when do the Solos give up?"

"Give up? I've tried every day for the past nineteen years! I'm not going back. It's embarrassing."

"Danyon, I thought we discussed this."

"No, father. You discussed it. I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment!" He stood up and his hand quivered over the button that would hurl the doors closed in his father's face.

"Danyon you are not a…"

"Let Rhianne know I said goodbye!" And against his better judgement he slammed his fist into the button, muffling his father's voice.

Moments later he heard the sound of the transport's engines roar past the building, and for the first time in his life Danyon Solo was not inside it as it sped towards Yavin.

He didn't know how long he lay curled up on his bed before his mother gently rapped on the doors.

"Dan?"

He rolled over, pretending to be asleep, but he knew his mother would sense he was still awake. Alinna Treloar was one of the most highly respected female Jedi's in history even before she married into the galaxy's most respected family. Though she had never worried about her son pursuing a life as a Jedi, Danyon felt that he had let her down most of all. He had heard enough of the talk in the streets of Coruscant and at the Jedi Academy - let alone conversations between his parents - to know that his lack of ability was a heavily debated topic. How could a son of Alinna Treloar and Rukar Solo be so completely inept when it came to the Force? It surely wasn't through lack of study or trying - Danyon had completed two years preparatory training and fourteen years making trips between Coruscant and the Jedi Academy on Yavin. He had failed the entrance exam three times, but since it was his grandfather Jacen's Academy, they started him the year Rhianne, his younger sister, had been selected. Keller, his older brother by barely a year was already well into training. Danyon should have been released from training years ago, and everyone knew it. Though he was an A-grade pilot, a talented engineer and could effectively wield a lightsabre, he had never had any sort of experience with the Force. He didn't have premonitions, nor could he sense feelings or move objects with his mind. And he certainly couldn't communicate without the use of words.

Danyon hated his father for sending him there anyway. He had been completely out of his depth and tried to cover it up to please his father. He worked twice as hard as Keller and saw little results for his efforts. Rukar found it hard to accept that his son didn't fit in with the family and their adventurous lifestyle, and certainly didn't hold back his disappointment. But Danyon could never hate his mother. She had a calm, beautiful soul that shone through everything she did.

"Yes mother, come in if you want," he eventually managed.

He heard the swishes of her clothes and felt the dipping of the bed as she sat down on it and began stroking his hair like she did when he was little.

"I'm sorry, mother", Danyon whispered.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For being such a failure. For ruining your family. For being… me."

"Oh Dan you must never apologise for that! You are a wonderfully talented young man, and though your destiny differs from Keller and Rhianne's it doesn't mean it's wrong or any less important."

"It is to father. If I'm not a Jedi, I'm nobody to him. If Keller's in the room he doesn't even see me. I know he'd prefer it if I left and never returned. At least then I couldn't embarrass him."

"He loves you."

"Maybe he should show it."

Tactfully, Alinna chose to leave that comment alone and proceeded to tell him a story he'd heard a thousand times before. "You know Danyon, your great grandfather wasn't a Jedi either, and he was still a great man and played vital roles in the Rebel attacks on the Empire. Han Solo had…"

Danyon closed his eyes and tried to block out her voice. He knew how this story ended. It was different for Han. Nobody had expected him to have the capabilities of a Jedi. He hadn't failed in the tasks set before him. And he didn't have Rukar for a father.

* * *

When he woke later and the artificial light of Coruscant poured in through the window, he had nothing to do but ponder his failures. Ever since he could remember he hadn't successfully completed anything he'd attempted, and knew there was always someone more talented than himself in the room. When he was younger, around ten or eleven, it had been hard for him to understand why he was so different from everyone around him, especially because his brother and sister were so gifted.

Danyon closed his eyes and swallowed hard when he recalled the places they'd been as a family and people thought they were being polite by inquiring how their training was going. Keller was always the first to respond confidently about the most recent level he had achieved or how he had nearly beaten his Master. Rhianne was quick to chime in, saying that she was scoring better than girls twice her age on any test of ability. When it came to Danyon… his eyes would fall to the floor and he'd fold his arms and muffle something about enjoying flying.

Rhianne and Keller were always reluctantly watching out for him, rescuing him from some predicament he'd trapped himself in. He'd always suspected there was something different about Rhianne, then he overheard a conversation between his parents about her. Obi-Wan Kenobi had appeared to Alinna in a vision when Rhianne was two, prophesying a significant role in history for her, and informing her that it was Rhianne more than any other descendant who carried the spirit of her great great grandmother. This was particularly unusual, for no one in their family even knew the name of Leia's mother, but Danyon thought that if she were even half as beautiful, moral and courageous as Rhianne, she must have been very special.

He rolled over, but the action did not improve his comfort a great deal. Rhianne this, Rhianne that. His younger sister had overshadowed him his entire life, and Keller didn't like to associate himself with his bumbling little brother and had hardly spoke more than the odd word to him for years.

Danyon knew there must be more to his existence than being frequently embarrassed by a girl three years his junior and feeling rejected by his father and brother. But if there was something more, it definitely wasn't in this room or this building. And he was beginning to doubt whether it was even on Coruscant.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next morning he woke to eerie silence. The Jedi Academy was always a flurry of activity and especially during the early hours, trainees were up before dawn with their Masters or friends. When the three of them were home, someone was usually moving around, or chatting on the visual comm, their voices fluttering beneath doors and around corners.

He stumbled, bleary-eyed and hair askew, into the main room. His parents were sitting together, talking almost in whispers, which ceased when they saw him.

"Danyon, did you sleep well?" his mother inquired, too earnestly.

"No, mother, I did not."

"Oh… let me fix you something to eat."

She moved off the seat and towards the kitchen. Danyon slumped into the nearest chair, aware that his father was observing his every move.

"It's only been one day and already you've forgotten how to behave and how to present yourself", his father said, directing his eyes away from his son as if the very sight of him was too distasteful to look at.

"Rukar please don't bother him", his mother gentle but firm voice drifted in from the next room.

"The boy will be trained, Alinna. If he's too lazy and undisciplined to travel to Yavin then I'll train him myself."

Danyon clenched his fists and pressed them into the chair. "Father don't you see? Please try to see! I'm not Force-sensitive. I'm not going to be a Jedi. I have the lowest midiclorian count in four generations of our family. It is not my fault. I tried, father. I tried though it cost me all of my self-respect. I'm not like Keller and Rhianne… I'm not like you." Shakily he stood. "Mother, don't worry about breakfast. I'm leaving."

"Leaving? But where will you go? Danyon, please wait…" He disappeared into his room, rummaging around, collecting various essentials.

"I've been waiting for nineteen years, mother! I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what I'm going to do. I only know I'm going!"

"If you don't even know what you're looking for, how will you know when you find it?", his father's even voice spoke calmly in contrast with Danyon's harsh tone.

He came to an abrupt halt, then closed his eyes. Rukar Solo. The voice of rationality. He had never despised his father more than that moment. He here was, finally taking control of his destiny, and his father couldn't even support that choice.

He didn't turn around, but replied "I will know because my heart will be at peace and when I look at myself in the mirror I won't be ashamed of what I see". He crossed the room and kissed his mother softly on the cheek goodbye, then marched straight to the door and exited without looking back.

* * *

He paced the lower streets of Coruscant for hours, fuming with anger at everyone, but mostly himself. At the Academy, they had been taught about the dangers of giving in to anger and hatred, but Danyon justified that not even the Dark side would want him. He hadn't noticed that he'd paused by a shuttle pickup sign and jumped a little when one hissed its way beside him and the pilot opened the side hatch.

"Where to?", grumbled the creature.

Danyon paused, about to wave off the shuttle when at the last second he jumped aboard.

"What's the stop furthest from here?"

"Joltanga Central."

Danyon nodded, paid his fare and settled in for the journey towards the rest of his life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

For three months he drove a taxi-shuttle around the interplanetary spaceport in Joltanga, a planet in Coruscant's system. The rarity of a human offering to pilot shuttles combined with his expert performance in a short ability test meant that he was accepted by the first company he applied at. He only had to key in the destination and the computer would plot the route. Danyon merely had to keep the thing on track and avoid other craft. Any nine or ten year old Jedi trainee could have done it, but Danyon found transporting people quite satisfying work, and only once in three months did he see a face he recognised.

He had begun to feel quite lonely, which surprised him because he had always preferred to be by himself. He missed his mother and the couple of people at the Academy who didn't completely ignore him, but most of all he missed Taren.

He had met her one evening while he was taking a walk around the Academy grounds. He had been gazing up at the stars and crashed right into her because she was looking up at them too. He had knocked her to the ground and then fussed over her, helping her up and apologising repeatedly. She looked about Rhianne's age, maybe a little older and had straight blond hair that hung neatly to her shoulders. Her skin was fair, and her eyes, deep brown and secretive. He thought she was the most exquisite thing he had ever seen.

He wasn't sure about the Jedi rules on love. There was an old story told between the trainees about a Jedi who refused to choose between his devotion to the Jedi order and his love for a woman. In the end, so the story goes, he lost both.

All Danyon knew in that moment was that it was the strongest emotion he had ever felt. After that evening he felt a need to see Taren, to talk to her, just to be with her. Though they weren't supposed to socialise away from the group, they continued to meet under the stars for a couple of weeks, and share their evening meal together. Friendship and alliances were encouraged. Romance was not. Romance was what happened after you retired from official duties, not before.

He had hoped they would remain close for a long time, until one afternoon. Keller had come to Danyon's room, which was unusual in itself, because Keller didn't like to publicise the fact they were related, and rarely spoke to his brother. Taren had come to visit him while Keller was there, and Danyon introduced them. No one would have missed the look that passed between them. Keller was well known throughout the Academy as one of its most promising students and Taren, obviously aware of his achievements, was in awe of him.

Within a week, there were no more midnight strolls, no more starlight conversations. In time, Danyon forgave both Taren and Keller. They were perfect companions for each other, and had an understanding of each other minds that Danyon couldn't comprehend. They were not in love, neither would have wanted it to infringe on their dedication to the Jedi order, but they were never apart.

Danyon knew that he would always love Taren. But he also knew that she and Keller would have a fulfilling life together and that she would be happier with his brother.

But it still hurt when he saw them together; even more when they were sitting as close as they dared in the dining room. But nothing compared to the pain he felt when he saw them walking together under the stars. Taren was beautiful, wise and talented - Danyon didn't feel like he deserved to be in her company. But that didn't stop him loving her. He needed to be near her, even seeing her filled his heart completely.

He shook himself out of his vision and the first thing he saw was a visual comm and a wave of guilt washed over him. His poor mother. He walked over to the device and keyed in his mother's identification number, then waited. It seemed to take forever for her to answer, but when she did, Danyon immediately knew something was wrong. Her face was damp and her eyes puffy and red and she burst into tears when she saw him.

"Mother, what's wrong?" he asked as a sick, cold feeling crept through his body.

"Oh Dan… something terrible has happened… it's… just so…. oh…" she trailed off and disappeared from the screen. He had never seen his mother upset, let alone hysterical. Jedi's don't usually show that kind of emotion.

His father appeared on the screen and stared straight through him. "Danyon… we need you to come home. It's Rhianne." Suddenly he felt short of breath and could only watch as his father ended the transmission before he could ask exactly what had happened.

But he didn't have another conscious thought until the transport touched down in Coruscant.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

He leapt off the exit ramp and hit the landing pad running. Along the twisting streets he bolted, into his family's building, up in the elevator and past numerous doors before knocking his fist against his door numerous times.

It was Taren who eventually opened the door, pressed her finger to her lips and drew him inside the room. In her presence he felt so wonderful, so full that he could hardly speak, but he quickly focused on Rhianne.

"What is it?" he whispered urgently, though he was afraid of the reply. The room was dark, except for the flickering light emanating from Rhianne's room. As he walked through the door he saw Rhianne lying on her bed, surrounded by candles and the biggest assembling of his extended family he ever remembered seeing. Each was in a deep trance, no doubt focusing their energies towards the young woman's body.

"Oh, Taren… no…"

"She was attacked by an assailant on the Academy grounds. She fought them off, but not before they injured her severely. There's nothing else that can be done. She's sheltering behind the Force, using it to help her recuperation, but we don't know if she'll be able to waken even if her wounds heal."

"How long… when will we…" he didn't even know the question he wanted answered.

"She's been like this for four days, but it could take weeks. Not one of the family has moved for nearly eighteen hours. I was waiting for you," Taren managed.

He walked towards the bed and kneeled beside it. He and Rhianne weren't close, but at least she talked to him and acknowledged his existence. She was still his little sister.

He felt so insignificant and helpless, even now when she was so vulnerable, he wasn't able help her. He looked around the room, saw most of his cousins, his grandfather, his uncles and aunties as well as his mother, father and brother. Taren took Keller's hand and closed her eyes, fading slowly to a place Danyon was permanently shut out from.

And as he sat there staring at Rhianne, surrounded by every person that ever loved him, he had never felt more alone in his entire life.

_

* * *

_

_"Danyon?"_

Her voice called him from so far away.

_"Danyon, wake up."_

He lifted his head off his arms and saw Rhianne standing beside him.

_"Rhianne… I didn't think you were coming back…"_

_"Me? Father told me about you. I wasn't sure you were coming back."_

_"I had to come back. For you",_ he murmured and Rhianne smiled.

_"I realised that I never told you something Dan. I'm proud that you are my brother."_

_"Proud? You've had to watch out for me since you were four years old."_

_"You will never be a Jedi Danyon, but you will be a great man. You have to believe in yourself, and then others will too."_

_"How?"_

_"You must find your own path, but as long as it is yours, it will be the right one."_

_"Rhianne…"_

_"I can't stay any longer. There is much to do."_

_"Will you be all right?"_

_"The future is always in motion…"_

* * *

Danyon woke with a start and lifted his head off his arms. Rhianne lay still on the bed, exactly where she had been since Rukar placed her there days before. Some of the family had left the room, but most had stayed where they'd been since he had drifted off to sleep. The early morning sun lit the room, and it took Danyon a moment to get his bearings and figure out the events of the previous night. He trusted that delivering her message had not cost her too much strength. The future is always in motion… he hoped that was her way of letting him know there was a chance she would make it. 

He noticed the few people that had left Rhianne's bedside included Taren, Keller and his father and mother. Hearing their hushed voices outside, he left the room to meet up with them.

They stopped talking when he approached.

"Danyon. You made your mother sick with worry", said Rukar flatly.

"Hello, father. I'm sorry if I caused her to worry, but I was fine", he looked over at his mother, but she hadn't moved. She stared blankly.

"Mother?" He went to go to her and his father grabbed his arm.

"She's not well Danyon. First you left without a trace and then Rhianne was attacked… the emotional trauma has caused her mind and body to shut down. I'm taking her to the Jedi counsel this afternoon. Keller and Taren are going back to Yavin, as the threat to the Academy is increasing. You will stay here with Rhianne and the family."

"I want to go to Yavin. I want to find the person that did this!", Danyon protested.

"Someone needs to stay here. I'll be back soon, depending on Alinna's condition. I don't want to leave Rhianne and I need to know she's being looked after."

Strangely enough, it was the nicest thing his father had ever said to him. It showed he did have some degree of trust in his son.

"I can't do anything for her here! She is surrounded by our family and they can look after her body as well as help her mind to recover. I cannot sit here for days, watching her lie there, just doing nothing. I'm going to Yavin. I will find the person responsible."

His father looked at him almost curiously, then looked away, as if hiding something.

"Very well, Danyon. If that's what you need to do," he replied softly, before moving to sit next to his wife.

"We want to go in the next few minutes, if you could get ready quickly Danyon", said Taren.

He left to change his clothes and collect his things but not before he caught the look of annoyance on Keller's face.

Minutes later, Keller, Taren and Danyon and a couple of his cousins were aboard the Solo's shuttle, speeding towards Yavin and the enemy. He and Keller piloted the ship out of Coruscant's busy skies without a word to each other and when they were in the clear, Keller set it on auto-pilot and was about to exit the cabin when Danyon spoke.

"I know you don't want me here. I know you don't even like me. But I want you to know that I care about Rhianne just as much as you do. And I'm here until the end."

"Fine", muttered Keller, "call me when we're nearing Yavin" and he turned to exit, no doubt to talk to Taren away from Danyon's ears.

"Keller, wait. Do you know why father allowed me to come? Why did he give in so easily?" Danyon asked.

Keller looked straight at him. "I think I do. Since he's a lot younger than his brothers are, once grandfather forbade him to go on a mission with them, making him stay home with his mother. That was the mission that…"

"Uncle Torell was killed", Danyon murmured.

"Yes. And father has always felt, though he was only eight at the time, that if he had been there he could have saved his brother. I guess he didn't want you to experience the same feeling."

"Thank you. Sometimes I wish he talked with me the way he does with you."

Keller nodded once, before leaving the cabin.

Danyon turned back to the controls, checking various readings. His cousin Astan appeared at the door and took it upon himself to start up a conversation. Danyon stared out at the stars whizzing by, trying to block out both Astan's chronology of the Clone Wars and Taren's gentle voice that was coming from the other side of the cabin door.

* * *

_Please leave a review to let me know what you liked and didn't like, which ideas you would like to be further explored and if you would like to read more about Danyon Solo. I will try to post the next chapter within a couple of weeks if anyone is interested. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
